Charlotte's Tumbling Time Travel: Acceptance
by Diana2122
Summary: Lottie goes on a trip with Jamie, Claire, Murtagh, Ned Gowan and the men from castle Leoch. Warning: Threats of spanking will occur in this story.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Acceptance

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Outlander, I'm only borrowing them for the story.

Warning: Spanking will occur in this story.

 **Authors' notes:** I have chosen to start telling Lottie's story from the middle instead of from the very beginning. I hope this isn't too confusing. This story, "Acceptance", is Lottie's journey to being accepted by the group collecting Collum's rent that she is travelling with. So it takes place before "Keeping one's word", "The fight lesson" and "Conversations and agreements". It also explains why Lottie is under Jamie's protective wing.

It is also possible to read this story before the others if preferred, and I might even chose to number them later and put this one before the others.

I have chosen to attempt making the stories longer. I actually prefer writing short stories but I also like to hear people's opinions in reviews and I suspect more people who are choosing to favorite my stories might also review them if the stories are put into chapters instead.

 **Please see the author notes!**

 **ACCEPTANCE**

Lottie felt the bumping wagon come to a squealing halt.

"All right all of ye, get off yer horses and have a rest!" Dougal yelled from the front of the travelling group.

Lottie felt the nervous knot in her stomach tighten because she knew that now was the time they would find her hidden in the wagon. She wasn't sure what would happen. Dougal had explicitly said he wouldn't permit her coming along with them on the road. Jamie had tried to persuade him to let her come because she had been desperate not to be left behind at castle Leoch without Claire, but Dougal had not been swayed. The events had led to Lottie climbing aboard the wagon early this morning, hiding amidst all the necessary supplies being brought along. A wool blanket now covered her crumpled form hidden in the corner of the tarped wagon and she heard the cover being swooshed aside. She then felt the wagon shift as someone jumped into it in search of something. Lottie held her breath and tried to be quiet as the smallest mouse she could think of.

Then nothing moved for at least ten seconds and she lay still in apprehension of what was to happen. She was sure whoever was in the wagon hadn't gotten out again because in that case she would surely have felt the wagon move. Suddenly her protective blanket was pulled off her with a swift move and a gasp escaped her lips. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into the blue eyes of an annoyed Jamie Fraser. He sighed resignedly and shook his head a little.

"Now you've really done it, lass. Dougal's going to be very angry with ye," he said, squatting by her feet. "Ye'd better get out."

He grabbed her arm and helped her to her feet and then guided her by a tight grip on her elbow to the opening of the wagon. There he jumped down and lifted her down, placing her on the ground. They had stopped to rest in a clearing by the road next to a lake and all the men in the group were walking around gathering firewood for the cooking fire and tending to the horses and supplies.

"Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ what are you doing here? What's Dougal going to say"

It was Claire who had spotted Lottie standing beside the wagon and headed their way. Lottie jerked her elbow out of Jamie's grasp and was about to say something slightly impertinent to him but changed her mind when noticing the serious look on his face. They didn't have to wait long for an answer to that question because in that moment a disgruntled shout was heard from the path leading to the lake. Dougal was on his way up from the lake and had stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of her. Quickly his expression switched from surprised to angry and his brows descended so deep that they almost covered his eyes. He started to stride over to them and the entire camp went quiet.

"Are ye deaf, lass? Or perhaps a bit daft, hmm?" he asked as he reached for her and caught the sleeve of her coat, bringing her closer to him. His raised his eyebrows as if he waited for her to answer his insult. But she didn't, she just met his stare quietly. "Because I'm fairly sure I told ye, just last night in fact, that ye could not come along!" he yelled. "I should give ye a good thrashing with my belt for this!"

"I am not deaf nor daft! I'm sorry I hid in the wagon but I had to! Now let go of me!" Lottie yelled back as she tried to break free from his grip on her.

"Oh, leave her alone! Don't you understand she didn't want to be left all alone at the castle?" Claire tried to intervene on Lottie's behalf with a slight look of worry in her eyes.

Dougal's eyebrows shot up in surprise once again.

"Oh, so now ye have a say in it as well, do ye Mistress Beachump?" he said in a challenging tone. "I don't think so, lass. This one was told she was to stay at castle Leoch. And she wouldna have been alone considering all the other residents at the castle. Which isn't exactly a small amount of people, ye ken. So, I dinna want to hear any foolishness now." he turned his icy stare to Lottie before continuing "Ye're going back and that's that." he fingered the belt around his waist and looked to be contemplating whether to thrash her or not as his next move.

Jamie took a step forward and slightly blocked Lottie from Dougal's path, thereby giving her a temporary reprieve from his stare. Dougal let go of her as a result.

"Dougal," he said with a calming hand on his uncle's heavy shoulder. "We're too far from the castle for the lassie to find her way back by herself. And ye dinna want to make a man ride back with her and then have to catch up with us again afterwards. Now, Cabre in the next village owes the Mackenzie a horse. How about you let the lass ride the horse during this trip so that he doesna get bored just trotting along behind the rest of us, aye?"

Dougal's forehead contracted and he appraised Jamie, Claire and Lottie slowly one by one. Lottie secretly crossed her fingers for luck, hoping for all she was worth for Dougal to give in. She was also hoping she would be spared the thrashing from Dougal because she figured that would probably be a highly uncomfortable experience. Although compared to being sent away it wasn't something she worried overly much about at the moment.

"Aye, well sometimes ye have a knack for reason, Jamie. I'll give ye that, lad." the warchief crossed his arms over his chest and locked eyes with Lottie and narrowed his hazel eyes into slits. Then he spoke to Jamie while still keeping his stare fixed on Lottie. "But since ye so firmly believe in bringing this lass along on this trip you can bloody well be responsible for her as well. That's my condition. She comes along then her safety is yer responsibility, lad. As well as making sure she behaves and keeps out of my way."

Lottie looked up at Jamie. Suddenly her fate was in his hands again. Just like it had been that day when she had come through the stones at Craigh na dun and he had saved her from the red coates while dislocating his shoulder in the process. Jamie was quiet and wore a look of seriousness on his handsome face. He seemed to be thinking Dougal's proposal over properly before answering. Finally he gave a firm nod in response.

"Aye, agreed."

Lottie exhaled as Dougal finally broke his stare and chose to take a step back from them with finality.

"Good," he said and turned and started to walk away. "All of ye get back to setting up camp!" he called out across the clearing and got the men moving again from having watched the scene with suspense.

Lottie was left alone with Claire and Jamie by the wagon. She was so thankful she could have almost burst and she looked up at Jamie with a smile. He didn't smile back though. He regarded her with one raised eyebrow and his lips a slim line.

"Thank you," Lottie said in a small voice. "For helping me. I'm sorry if I got you in trouble with him." She looked at the grass underneath her boots. "I didn't mean to."

"I ken it wasn't your intention." Jamie said with and leaned a hand against the wagon. "Ye just wanted to accompany us. Dougal's right though, ye know. It wasn't your decision to make. You're going to have to follow my orders on this trip if this is to work. As well as his. Can ye do that?" he asked in a questioning tone.

Lottie reflected over his question quietly for a moment before she answered.

"I will do my best. But I'm not always so good at following orders," she finally admitted with a crooked smile his way.

To her surprise Jamie snorted and his mouth twitched at her words. Claire rolled her eyes but a smile escaped her anyway, despite the situation Lottie had just created.

"I would never have guessed, lass, "Jamie said with a quick drum of his fingers against the side of the wagon.

 **To be continued**


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Charlotte's Tumbling Time Travel: Acceptance

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Outlander, I'm only borrowing them for the story. Lottie is however my own character.

Please see the Author notes in chapter 1.

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2**

Lottie scrambled out from underneath her bear pelt cover next to a sleeping Claire. It was finally dawn and soon it would be time to head out on the road again. Lottie stretched her arms over her head and yawned loudly. Annoyed at being woken before anyone else had started to stir around the campsite the half asleep Claire mumbled something and turned her back to Lottie.

Lottie squatted and packed up her things neatly, mindful not to forget anything. She didn't want the men to think her careless now that she had been granted permission to travel with them. She knew she was being watched, just like Claire was, and that she wasn't allowed to stray far from the camp. She was however allowed to go over to her horse which they had picked up in the village yesterday. She had wanted him to have a Scottish name but been unable to think of a suitable one herself. Therefore she had let Jamie name him. He had chosen the name Seoc, only he pronounced it like Shaak in Gaelic. Lottie thought the name fit the beautiful but strong looking silver grey horse like a glove. They had found each other right away but it had taken some convincing to let her prove to Dougal and Jamie that she did in fact know how to ride. Actually, some people in her own time would even consider her an excellent rider. Although she couldn't very well use that as an argument. But as soon as the two Scotsmen saw her handle Seoc they could see that she was no beginner and allowed her to ride him all the way to the clearing where they had made camp for the night.

She now walked over to the trees where the horses were tied, wrapping her coat around her for warmth as she walked, and stopped in front of Seoc.

"Good morning, beautiful," she said with a smile and stroked his muzzle. "I hope you've slept because we have a long day ahead of us."

As she headed back she grabbed some more collected wood from the wagon on the way to make sure the fire didn't go out. As she came around the wagon she crashed into something hard.

"Ahh!" she yelled as she almost lost her footing, preventing herself from tripping by regaining it at the last second. One log was too heavy to keep in her arms and it fell from the pile she was balancing on her forearms.

A volley of curses was heard right after it landed and Lottie peeked around the fire wood in her arms. The thing she had crashed into wasn't a what, it was a who. Angus was now skipping around in the grass while cradling his left foot and letting his rich vocabulary of curse words be known to anyone in the camp.

"Oh, sorry, Angus. I didn't see you!"

The little clans man was red in the face as he turned around and pointed a finger in her face.

"Women are bad luck on trips. Especially too many of them. Ye stay out of my way!"

He stormed right past Rupert and Ned who looked like they had been risen from their "beds" by the racket judging by their dishevelled hair. Ned gave her a compassionate look while Rupert just shrugged and headed off to take care of his morning needs behind a bush.

* * *

After breakfast Dougal called for their departure and they all saddled their horses and mounted.

"Here ye go, lass," Jamie said with a crooked grin as he held out a hand to Lottie with the intent to help her up on Seoc.

She looked at his hand and in one swift move she grabbed hold of the heavy leather saddle and pulled herself up. When in place in the saddle she cast her thick braid of fiery red hair over her left shoulder with a swift move of her hand and stared down at Jamie.

"The lass didna even use the stirrup," Rupert said to Angus in a lowered voice. "She just pulled herself up with just the strength of her wee arms. Did ye see it?"

Angus sighed exasperatedly.

"Aye, so what? So can I."

Rupert rolled his eyes briefly and leaned forward in his saddle.

"Aye, but ye aren't a lass, are ye? No, didna think so."

Lottie heard their comments but decided to ignore them. She knew she could do anything they could do and then some. All she needed was the opportunity to prove it to them. She looked down at Jamie standing beside Seoc. If he was surprised then he hid it well. He just gave her a friendly grin and with a final nod returned to his own horse so they could get moving.

Lottie was well aware that Claire and herself were still being guarded, even though they had left castle Leoch. Claire had earned some of Dougal's trust when she had tried to help Geordie during the gathering when he was injured during the boar hunt but she wasn't beyond suspicion and wasn't allowed to go off by herself yet. The same rules applied for Lottie, if not more rules in fact because she was younger than Claire. It seemed all right for the two of them to ride behind the rest of the party and talk though, as long as they didn't fall too far behind the others.

"Well, I guess you got what you wanted after all. To go on this trip with us," Claire said.

"Yes."

They rode side by side since there was enough road for it but Lottie kept staring ahead.

"Good for you. You are however lucky that Dougal didn't thrash you for this stunt. For a moment there I thought he intended to."

"Oh come on, Claire. You know I couldn't just let them leave me behind. All alone at Leoch. I would have died staying there alone for all the weeks you all would have been gone. "

"You wouldn't exactly have been alone, you know. Mrs. Fitz is there and Laughaire and…"

"Who cares!" Lottie exclaimed and glared at Claire. " I don't really know them. I would have been by myself since both you and Jamie would have been away. You are the two people I know here. So being out here is better no matter what anyone says or does about it."

Claire rode on with an expression of pensiveness for a while.

"I suppose you're right," she then said. "It's not like I'm not glad you're here."

"What's the matter then?" Lottie asked with a frown. Claire wore a slight frown on her forehead.

"Well, I suppose I'm just a little anxious. Worried about something happening to you here on the road."

"Oh, Claire. I can look after myself just fine. There is no need to worry about me being here." Lottie said in an amused voice.

"Yes, so you say," Claire replied not completely convinced. " Well, all right. Anyway it seems like most of my company is ignoring me anyway so it's definitely nice to have someone to talk to here on the road. However, I feel I need to tell you something, though. In order not to shock you later. "

"What is it?"

"You know how I feel about being Collum's prisoner. And you know about my desire to leave this place and get back to 1946. I plan to escape during this trip."

"You are? How?" Lottie asked.

"I don't know exactly how yet but I plan to get back to the stones at Craigh na Dun and return home. To Frank. To our time," she said with a pointed look Lottie's way. "It's your time too, Lottie. You do remember that, right?"

"I do. But I won't go! And you can't force me to!" She regretted her outburst almost immediately and started to twirl a lock of her red hair around her index finger in thought. "Not without telling everyone where we are both from anyway."

"I know and I wouldn't want to force you. We have been over this before and I know it is your wish to stay here in 1743. I just wish you'd explain to me why you don't want to return home."

"It's only my own concern. I don't want to share it right now."

"Just remember that you may not get a chance to share it with me later if I escape and you remain here," Claire said gently.

Lottie sighed and changed the focus of the conversation to something more important.

"I wish you'd stay, Claire," she said not able to meet the older woman's eyes just then. "Please don't go away."

"That's not really an option for me, honey," she replied softly.

"No, I suppose not." Lottie smacked her lips and got Seoc moving so Claire wouldn't see the wetness in her eyes that was caused by her reply.

 **To be continued**

 **Author notes:** Please let me know what you think. I promise the story is going to be picking up the pace really soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: Charlotte's Tumbling Time Travel: Acceptance**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the character on Outlander, Iäm just borrowing them for the story.**

 **Author Notes: Thank you all so much for your reviews on my story. I really appreciate the feedback. I love writing this story so much and I believe I would write it even if no one read it, but it really helps when I receive feedback on the work that I do.  
**

 **Chapter 3**

Lottie let her gaze fall on Claire seated on a rock eating something that resembled a brutally executed and then cooked squirrel. She heard the men telling their crude jokes in Gaelic while glancing Claire's way like they wanted her to realize the jokes involved her. They weren't exactly about her but they seemed to want her to think that they were. They were actually about other women. Women Angus had encountered, or at least claimed to have encountered, Lottie smiled to herself. She was seated on a log with one leg folded comfortably underneath her and the toes of her other foot gently touching the dirt ground. Next to her sat Jamie eating his dinner.

"Are ye not hungry, lass?" he asked her suddenly, bringing her away from her thoughts and observations. He was looking at her with a slightly worried expression. "Ye really should eat. There will not be any more food until morning."

"I'm fine. I'm eating," she said with a smile at him and pulled up the sleeves of her cotton chemise to show she was getting ready to dig into her meal, "Can I give a carrot to Seoc later?"

"No, ye can't," a sharp answer came from the other side of the crackling fire in the middle. "The food is for people to eat. We have food suitable for the horses."

It was Dougal who had spoken. He was still in the same sour mood he had been in since he agreed she could come along on the trip. She knew he was just being difficult at the moment, though. He knew there was really no harm in letting her give a carrot to Seoc. A sudden chill went through Lottie and she shivered. The evening cold was upon them now and she arranged her green, black and white checkered skirt so it fully covered her legs. She then frowned at Dougal and instead looked expectantly at Jamie. He cleared his throat.

"Sorry. Ye heard Dougal," he just said and took another bite of his pork.

Dougal seemed satisfied with that answer. He looked away from them and carried on with a conversation with Ned. She had hoped Jamie would stand up to his uncle. But then again, it was just a stupid carrot, she reminded herself. It wasn't worth stirring up trouble over. Although she really wanted to give Seoc something tasty after all that riding they had done today. He was so wonderfully gentle with her and he also seemed to have a sweet tooth. He was always checking to see if she had something eatable on her to give to him when she was on the ground. All of a sudden she felt something hard touch her side. She turned her head and glanced down to see something orange and pointy. She looked at Jamie who was holding it discreetly between their bodies.

"A gift from me to Seoc," he winked and his dark blue eyes sparkled. She smiled broadly back at him and tucked the carrot underneath the black velvet bodice that she wore over her cotton chemise.

"Thank you."

"Now eat yer dinner," he said, and she did.

* * *

On the days that followed the group stopped in two villages to collect rent and take well deserved rests in real beds under a roof. Claire wasn't accepted by their travelling companions, except by Jamie and Ned and perhaps also Willie. And Lottie was getting familiar with being described as "in the way" and "in need of protection". Dougal, Angus and Rupert weren't fond of having her in their company on the trip at all. She had hoped she could persuade them and she tried to be as helpful as possible but it didn't seem to sway them much despite her efforts. Willie was friendly towards her and she enjoyed talking to him on occasion. It was his first time on the road with the group too and some of the others weren't exactly making it easy on him either. Lottie found that sort of comforting and he said they would eventually accept him as a member of the group, as long as he applied himself, and he assured her that they would accept her too eventually. Lottie was grateful for his support. Ned was also nice to her and interesting to talk to. He listened to her and she found it easy to delve into a subject with him and she had to frequently remind herself not to give too much information about herself when she talked to him. It was difficult though because she often got really engaged when they talked about women's rights and lack of opportunities in Scotland and it was then easy for her to start babbling about herself. She was happy to hear that Ned thought women should be allowed to practice law and that he hoped witch trials would disappear soon because he thought they were barbarous acts. The two of them agreed on many subjects. Lottie and Murtagh did, however, not agree with each other very often. She didn't get the feeling he hated her but she knew he didn't approve of her presence. She even heard him refer to her as an "opinionated nuisance" one time. In the evenings the men as well as Claire sometimes met up with the male villagers in some private place to have dinner and drink. Lottie wasn't exactly sure why but both Claire and Jamie always wore very melancholy, and sometimes even angry, expressions when coming from one of those gatherings. Jamie's shirt was also torn on more than one occasion and Lottie wondered why. She wasn't welcome at the dinners though and was always told by Jamie to stay in her room when they were being held. Angus was always posted as a guard to make sure no unwelcomed guest bothered her and it didn't matter how many times she tried telling Jamie that Angus' presence wasn't necessary, he still ended up outside her room to both the small clansman's and her dissatisfaction. The circumstances didn't exactly put her in Angues' good graces nor the other men's, she knew that. If someone had to watch over her then she wished it would be Jamie, and she found it very strange that he asked Angus instead of doing it himself. But she guessed it must have something to do with his presence being required at those gatherings.

Even though most of Lottie's companions didn't seem to approve of her presence on the trip she still felt happy to be on the road with them. Especially with Jamie and Claire. Ever since Jamie had rescued her from the British soldiers on that first day when she had stepped through time and into this world she had felt tied to him in some strange way. He had saved her and also helped her the first days at castle Leoch and made her feel safe. It was probably the first time she had felt safe for almost two years now. She owed him her life and she hoped she could repay him some day.

* * *

One afternoon, on their way to the next village, the group stopped at an inn to have some food. The men were invited to a game of dice almost immediately by some men seated at a round table in a corner. Jamie shook his head that he wasn't interested and pointed at a chair where Lottie could have a seat at a table. He also politely suggested for Claire to have a seat next to her and told her he would be right back with some hot rabbit stew and some bread as well as ale, that was if she wanted ale, he added. Claire gave him a friendly smile and a thank you. Dougal and Ned weren't interested in playing either and sat down at the table too while Angus and Rupert eagerly joined the two men at the round table for a game of dice. It was raining outside and Lottie shivered where she sat with her arms wrapped around herself. Her coat was wet and she took it off to try to get warm as quickly as possible. She wrapped her arms around herself and ran her fingers over the soft velvet fabric of her black bodice. She was getting used to these clothes and didn't find them so awkward anymore.

"Give me that," said Dougal with a resigned sigh and held out his hand.

Lottie paused surprisedly at first, but then shrugged and handed him her coat. He strode over to the fire place and hung it close to the crackling fire to dry.

"Thank you," she said as he plopped back onto his wooden chair again. He grunted something about it being important to not catch one's death. Angus exploded in a roar of laughter over by the dice table but soon quieted down as it was his turn to roll the dice again. Lottie watched them for a while to see how the game was played since she had nothing better to do anyway. Claire was wrapped up in a conversation with Ned and Jamie was taking his time with the food. Glancing at him he appeared to be waiting for his turn to place his order, there being a young couple in front of him placing theirs first. Lottie got up and slowly approached the round table with the laughing men. At the table were Angus, Rupert and a man with a red beard which was about the same length as Dougal's and another man who was Jamie's size and had a gap between his front teeth. It seemed like the man with the gap must have a foul breath because whenever he spoke the others looked a bit troubled and leaned back in their seats. Lottie found that sort of funny. She watched the game from a distance for a moment but couldn't help but take another step closer to the table when she thought it was getting suspenseful over there. Then another step and another... Before she knew it she was standing right next to the round dice table, between Rupert and Angus and exclaimed:

"Oh, good job, Angus! You're winning!"

Rupert and Angus both looked up at her face and all four men at the table suddenly became as silent as the grave. Then one man spoke:

"How do ye ken this one's going to win, lass?" he asked with a rumbling voice. It was the one with the gap between his teeth who spoke.

"I just listened to you when you were playing and observed your way of playing and…"

Suddenly there was tension in the air and Lottie had no idea where it had come from. The man with the gap glared at Rupert who shrugged and looked like he was about to start defending himself. That was when Lottie felt a firm hand on her shoulder and looked up. There stood Jamie with a slightly grim countenance.

"Take her away, Jamie. She's bringing back luck on our friendly game, here, "Angus whined.

Jamie took his eyes from Lottie and grinned at the other men.

"Sorry, lads. Come on, lass. Yer food awaits."

Lottie went with him, even though she rather would have stayed and watched how the game ended. But her rumbling stomach made the decision for her.

"Where did ye learn to play dice?" Jamie asked her between mouthfuls of rabbit stew and bread a while later.

Lottie looked up from her plate and glanced at Claire but she hadn't heard the question. It was always important to be cautious when answering questions about herself, she knew that. An accident could so easily happen if she was reckless and Dougal and the men from Leoch were already in doubt as it were regarding her and Claire's backgrounds. However, this particular question wasn't difficult to answer because her answer happened to be the truth, for once.

"I don't know how. I just watched them," she said with a small indifferent shrug of one shoulder.

Jamie raised a brow doubtfully.

"You observed them for a few moments and learned the rules?"

She nodded and put the spoon in her mouth, burning her tongue in the process on the hot stew. Jamie looked impressed but said nothing more on the subject. It was too early in the day to stop for the night at the inn and they were finishing up their food and getting ready to get up and go when something happened. A ruckus broke out over by the round table. The man with the gap suddenly yelled:

"You've been cheating, ye filthy cow dung!"

The accusation was aimed at Angus whose face began to change color to red, not because he was embarrassed, but because he was now angry as a hornet.

"Cheatin? Him?! Ye must be drunk, man!"

It was Rupert who had budded in to defend his friend but the man with the gap seemed to have set his mind on the belief that Angus had cheated his way to victory. Lottie wasn't even sure if it was possible to cheat at this dice game but she understood that the how wasn't really important now. It was more important to stop the impending brawl before it happened. Jamie and Dougal both got to their feet to either aid their comrades or try to stop the brawl. It was unclear which course of action they were going for at the moment. Before he headed over there Jamie quickly turned Lottie towards the door and gave her a little shove in its direction.

"Go outside and wait by the horses," he ordered her quietly but firmly.

Claire was standing next to Ned behind the table with her arms crossed over her chest and didn't look happy about the brawl that was about to happen. Suddenly Willie appeared by Lottie's side and tried to urge her to leave.

"Come on, miss Lottie. Ye shouldna be here right now," he said in a slightly stressed tone of voice like he really wanted her to come with him. Lottie wasn't about to get out of harm's way this time though. She pushed her red hair back behind her ears and took a deep breath. Then she quickly pushed herself past Jamie and Dougal to make sure she reached the round table first. She did reach it first and she leapt with an almost elastic step onto the round table, making the dice and cups and plates fly everywhere with a clatter.

To be continued

 **A/N: Please let me know what you thought of the chapter. The more reviews I get with comments, questions or thoughts the more motivated I get and the faster I can write ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Charlotte's Tumbling Time Travel: Acceptance

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Outlander, I am only borrowing them for the story.

 **Notes: The story about the boy who fooled the giant is a Swedish folk tale with an unknown author, as far as I could tell. Nevertheless it is not my story and it does not belong to me but since I cannot find the precise author I cannot give credit to him/her in the proper way here.** **Its original title, however, is:** _ **Pojken som åt ikapp med jätten.**_ **So, please note that I am only borrowing the story for my own story, I am not claiming to have created it.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 4**

The room went completely silent. Everything was as still as a calm summer evening when the chorus of crickets is the only sound heard. Everyone was staring at Lottie and at first that was a little frightening, but she took a breath and got right to business. She wasn't going to let herself become insecure now. And besides, it was too late for that anyway.

"Gentlemen! You talk of cheating?!" she boldly exclaimed across the room. "You don't know anything about cheating until you've heard the story of the boy who cheated the giant!"

She cast a quick glance Jamie's way but he stood just as frozen in place as the others, a slightly stunned expression covering his broad and handsome features. Their eyes met and he looked like he was about to collect himself and say something to her but she quickly looked away again.

The brawlers had gotten completely thrown off track by Lottie's interruption and they all stared confoundedly at her with big round eyes. It was as if the awkwardness in the room was making it impossible for them to get down to fighting and the big man with the gap between his teeth rolled his eyes and put one hand impatiently on his hip.

"What are ye goin on about, lass?" he asked with a slightly raspy voice.

"The boy and the giant. You actually haven't heard the story?" she said, making her eyes go wide with pretend shock.

He shook his head. She then looked at Angus and Rupert who had taken a step back from the round table and were now looking up at her with confusion. They both shook their heads too.

"Oh, my. What about you?" she asked the man with the red beard. And he had not heard it either.

"No, I dinna ken any story about some giant!" the man with the gap now blurted out a bit irritated. "I ain't even sure I want to."

Lottie put up both hands in front of her like she wanted to stop his decline from reaching her ears.

"I will not hear it, sir. Now listen to me as I deliver this, I assure you, truly wonderful story to you as a gift, gentlemen. I assure you it will stay with you forever, like raspberry jam stuck in your hair."

And with those words she began delivering what more resembled a performance at a theatre, than a simple story. Her checkered skirt billowed about her legs as she moved around on the table, using big gestures to convey the story to her, at first, skeptic audience. She moved to and fro, feeling her heavy, red dutch braid dance against her neck and shoulder blades with her movements.

She told them about the shepherd boy who herded his sheep close to the giant's cave, and how the giant discovered him and threatened to crush the boy in his hand, like he could a stone. She also told them, using a suddenly lowered voice to create suspense, of how the boy rolled a piece of cheese in ashes to make it gray and squeezed it in his hand to chock the giant and make him believe he too could crush a stone. And how the giant suggested they compete by seeing who could carry a fallen fir tree the farthest. They carried it together up a hill and the boy insisted on carrying at the root of the fir tree. But when the giant wasn't looking the boy jumped up and hid among the branches, and that way caught a free ride until the giant finally admitted he couldn't carry any farther, whilst the boy cockily told him that he had not even broken a sweat yet.

Lottie paused. People had actually taken their seats again and were listening intently to her telling the story. Jamie and Claire remained standing, Jamie with his arms crossed over his chest and a small grin playing on his lips, and Claire with her shawl wrapped around her shoulders and an expression of serenity on her face. The fire could be heard crackling in the corner of the room and someone was whispering something at the back of the audience.

"Well," Angus's voice came as an explosion in the silence. "What happened? Who won the competition?"

"The giant of course, ye daft man," Rupert thundered. "He was the biggest one and he probably came up with something the boy couldna do."

"Big isna always best," Angus snorted with his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he waved his small dagger playfully at his friend's face. "Just look at ye and me."

Rupert and Ned laughed and even Murtagh, who had come in from taking care of the horses just after she started the story, joined in the laughter.

Lottie smiled, pleased she had their attention and that the atmosphere in the room had changed so drastically. She had done it. She had managed to distract the belligerent men long enough to get their minds off fighting each other. Rupert and Angus were in good spirits now and even the man with the gap and the man with the red beard had both plumped their butts down on their chairs again and seemed totally spellbound by her story.

"Whoa, easy now, gentlemen," Lottie said to quiet down Angus and Rupert. "Here's how it ends."

She then told her captive audience how the giant suggested to the boy that whoever ate the most porridge would win. And how the clever, clever shepherd boy then tied a bag inside his shirt that the porridge landed in when he ate, and when the giant finally gave up and asked him how ever he could eat such big amounts of porridge, the boy told him he always cut his stomach open to let the porridge out after a while. Using a knife he cut the bag and the porridge came pouring out.

Lottie grabbed a knife by her foot on the table and dramatically pretended to cut her own stomach with it.

"And the giant who thought that sounded like a good idea took his knife and cut open his stomach...and died. The shepherd boy entered the giant's cave, took all his possessions and left."

With an agonizing wheeze she slowly pretended to sink into a heap on top of the table, with her hands clutched tightly to her stomach.

The room was quiet and she cracked one eye open to steal a quick glance around the room. People were staring at her, some with mesmerized expressions, others wearing more thoughtful looks. Then someone started applauding. She looked up surprised and saw that it was Dougal. He stood by the table he had been seated at during dinner, clapping his hands loud and clear, with an expressions of appreciation and content on his face. Lottie then quickly got to her feet and took a deep bow, as every person in the room followed Dougal's lead and applauded her performance. Someone even sent a piercing whistle her way. She felt herself blush slightly and tried to make the pink glow on her cheeks go away by brushing at them with her fingers. When the applause started to die down she was happy to hear Rupert even offer to buy the man with the gap a whisky, and he gladly accepted. In turn he asked for another game of dice and as the men started to look ready to resume their game Lottie realized it was time for her to get down off their gambling table. She didn't have time to though, before Jamie was in front of her. Even with her standing on the table he was still tall enough for his forehead to be at the same level as her chin. As she faced him she felt her stomach flutter a little. She _had_ disobeyed him, after all. She relaxed, though, when he offered her a small attempt at a sinister glare but failed, and just gave her a short grin instead. She had disobeyed him, but he didn't fail to see what she had accomplished while doing it. He lifted her down off the table.

"I think ye have done enough here for one afternoon. Let's go."

To be continued

* * *

 **Author's notes: Thank you for all your previous reviews and feedback on this story. I really love writing it and it helps to hear from people who read it (even if it's just a word or two, it still helps me a lot with continuing to write) so please let me know your thoughts. I'm planning to put some more work into and time on my stories about Lottie over this summer and I'm hoping to finish this one pretty soon.**


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Charlotte's Tumbling Time Travel: Acceptance

Disclaimer : I don't own the characters on Outlander, I'm only borrowing them for the story.

 **Author notes: This is the final chapter on this story about Lottie.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 5**

Things became different for Lottie after that evening at the tavern where she had told a story and captured her audience. Dougal and the men were now much more accepting of her presence, and they were even nice to her on occasion. Highlanders did love stories and in the evenings they would beg her to tell a story, complementing her by saying she was almost as good as the bard Gwyllyn at Leoch. They weren't as accepting of Claire as they were of Lottie at first though. Claire was still treated like an outsider but at least the men had stopped speaking Gaelic to deliberately exclude her, probably because they believed Lottie didn't speak or understand Gaelic, like Claire, and they no longer desired to exclude her from the group. Lottie had not yet revealed to them that she in fact understood Gaelic. She hadn't even told Claire that. She didn't know why, she just liked being able to listen to the men speak sometimes without them knowing she understood them. It wasn't really eavesdropping since no one had ever asked her if she spoke the language, nor spoken in hushed voices when she was around. They spoke profanities as well as their plans out loud in Gaelic in front of both her and Claire sometimes, and she figured it wasn't her problem that they chose to be so careless.

Lottie had also become used to having Jamie watch over her like it was his duty, making sure she was alright and safe at all times. She had liked him since the first time they met and had always felt that he would help her and protect her if need be, however since he had officially taken responsibility for her on this trip something had changed. He was almost always around, watching over her more constantly now. It could be a little annoying because she wanted to wander around alone sometimes, without anyone tagging along, but he had expressly told her to mind Dougal's rules and to not wander off. So, she did her best not to. Of course occasionally she couldn't help herself though and found herself having walked a little too far away from present camp or village. But it never took long before she saw Jamie come strolling calmly on the road or meadow behind her. When he caught up with her he would always glare strictly and admonish her softly, and sometimes administer a small tug on her ear, before escorting her back. She was very grateful for his concern though.

"What do you think of Jamie?" Lottie asked Claire one lazy afternoon. They had stopped in a village to collect rent and since there wasn't much for the two of them to occupy themselves with at the moment they had chosen to slump down on a spread out blanket on the ground. They watched as the men of the village formed a single file line behind Dougal and Ned seated at table, collecting the rent.

Claire gazed up at her with one eye, the other one shut because of the sun light.

"What do you mean?"

Lottie sighed a little.

"I mean what do you think of him. Do you like him? I believe he likes you, you know."

Claire shut the one eye, folded her arms behind her head and lay down.

"Oh?"

Lottie glanced down at her hands resting in her lap. She flexed her slender fingers and studied her short fingernails. She had never liked long finger nails because they tended to get in the way of everything. It suited her fine that women tended to have short fingernails here, probably for the same reason.

"I mean, he talks to you a lot, even when the others don't. He looks at you a lot too. Even when you don't see it. I guess you could say he has wandering eyes. Or is that the wrong expression?"

Claire chuckled softly, eyes still closed with an expression of content on her face. She seemed relaxed.

"We're friends. What about yourself? What do you think of him?"

Lottie thought about it for a while before she answered. She owed Jamie Fraser a debt. He had saved her life after she came through the stones.

"You know, you have never given me the details of what happened that day when we came through the stones at Craigh na Dune." Claire rolled over on her side and propped her head in her palm, squinting at Lottie. There was the sound of goats bleating and wagon wheels squealing as more people approached to offer the Mackenzies payment for the year. "I know you came through the stones from the same year as me, 1946, and that you somehow encountered Jamie and the highlanders. It's not very detailed, though, Lottie."

Lottie avoided her stare. It was true that she hadn't been very detailed about what happened that day. She and Claire hadn't come through the stones at exactly the same time and they must have taken off in different directions from the hill afterwards. Claire had been rescued and knocked out by Murtagh while Lottie had had quite a different experience. It had taken a few days before she and Claire had finally ended up alone enough to talk, and if it hadn't been for Claire asking her straight out if she too had come through the stones she probably wouldn't even have revealed that information to her either. Not for a long while, at least. It had all seemed too unreal to be true at first and she had been afraid, and even started to doubt her own sanity for a while. She did trust Claire fully now, though. But it was still hard to talk so freely about her experience, and her past. She would rather avoid it. But then again, maybe it was time to open up more to Claire. Lottie knew about her meeting with Captain Jonathan Wolverton Randall after she came through the stones. And she knew about Murtagh showing up. But she had skillfully avoided to talk much about her own experience more than necessary. It was only fair that she'd share her recollection of her first hours in the 18th century with Claire too.

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _Lottie's head spun with confusion. It was as if she had been tied to a carousel and been forced to ride it over and over again for an entire day. She opened her eyes and watched the white, fluffy clouds spin for a while, then stop and just float around in the blue sky above. What was this? One moment she had been standing in front of the big stone in the stone circle, only to in the next moment find herself on her back in the grass. And somewhere between those two moments in time she had felt like she was almost being torn in two. It had felt like she was inside a spinning football, helpless and frightened. Slowly and gingerly she sat up. She pulled at the hem of her a-line navy blue skirt that had slid up, forcing it down past her knees again. Taking a deep breath and exhaling she turned her head from side to side, taking in her surroundings. What had happened, she wondered. What had caused that buzzing sound, the world to spin and her to finally pass out? She listened. She heard the same bird chirpings and the same wind whispering through the trees as before. She took in her surroundings and everything looked the same: green fields and rolling mountains in the distance. Suddenly a shot erupted and interrupted the peaceful sounds of nature surrounding her. She quickly staggered to her feet and worriedly scanned her surroundings. Where had the shot come from? Was someone hunting? Her legs felt wobbly and refused to stop shaking as she made her way down the hill and into the woods as quickly as she could. She couldn't risk anyone finding her and bringing her back to the orphanage so she forced her legs to start running._

" _Damn it!"_

 _With a quick tug she tore her white lace blouse free from the sharp branch which had caught it, and then continued to push forward through the woods. Occasionally strands of her long red hair also got caught in branches and was painfully tugged at, but she disentangled it and tried to concentrate on finding the road. She didn't understand why the road didn't appear. It should have by now._

 _Two more shots accompanied by a sharp shout by a male voice that sounded angry. It couldn't be a hunter. He wouldn't be shouting at his prey to halt. Maybe whoever was shooting was looking for her, because of what she did at the orphanage. But then she saw them and the sight interrupted her train of thoughts. Soldiers dressed in red. British soldiers. 18th century British soldiers?_

" _Impossible. I must have hit my head..."_

 _She hid herself behind a tree trunk and looked down at them from up a ridge. There were four of them, running as though they were looking for someone, or perhaps pursuing someone. Was this some sort of reenactment? Then why were they shooting at each other? Was this for real? Or had she gone insane? Her panicking reverie was once again interrupted, this time by a husky voice from behind her._

" _What have we here? A Scottish lassie?"_

 _Lottie spun around in the dirt and a small gasp escaped her mouth. In front of her stood two British soldiers who, judging by the uniform and triangle headgear, looked like they were from the 18th century. They were both armed with muskets and daggers and they eyeed her suspiciously. One was tall with slim shoulders and skinny legs and looked to be in his thirties. He was the one who had spoken. The other one had pale skin and rosy cheeks and was short with a little extra padding on the stomach. He eyed Lottie's hair and nodded._

" _Looks like it. How did you get out here, miss? You were in company with the highlander barbarians we are chasing, weren't you?"_

 _Lottie didn't know what to answer. She opened and shut her mouth several times, but she was just at a loss for words._

" _I don't understand. What gives you the right to chase and shoot at Scots in Scotland?" she asked in bewilderment, once she found her voice. " It's their land after all."_

 _The two men stared at her in surprise and it took Lottie a moment to realize that it was her accent they had reacted to. She was British, not a Scot, and now they knew that. The tall man's mouth formed a grim line and he fixed her with an angry stare._

" _A British girl who speaks with the mouth of a traitor against the crown." he looked from her head to her loafers with disgust on his sharp edged face. "I'm appalled. "_

" _Indeed." the short man with rosy cheeks chimed in._

 _Lottie was starting to feel pretty sure that these two men were in fact a threat to her. She didn't know why they were, but they certainly weren't going to offer her the kind of assistance she needed right now. She started to slowly back away from them._

" _A young British girl wandering out here in the wilderness, probably sympathetic to and in company with highlanders…" the short man said to the tall one._

" _Halt right there!" the tall man burst, halting her movements. "We are going to have to bring you with us to see the commanding officer in charge. We need to sort this situation out, miss."_

 _She slowly shook her head at them. She didn't think it would be a good idea to go along with these two whereever they were going. She needed to find the road, not go see some commander. And again, what the hell was going on? She had no idea. She took a step back when the short man took an advancing step towards her and reached for her._

" _Get away from me!" she yelled._

" _She's dressed in the most strange clothes," the tall man said pensively in a low voice._

" _Alright, that's enough now. Come along with us and stop fussing," the short man ordered and it was clear that he was going for grabbing her now._

 _Lottie felt her confusion and fear force her fighting skills to surface and used the palm of her hand to swiftly block his outstretched hand away, hard. When he then launched for her she crouched down, making herself small, then exploded up, causing him to continue forward through the air over her._

 _She wasted no time. As soon as she heard the man crash to the ground with a loud and surprised grunt she got up and raced away as fast as her wobbly legs would carry her. Oh no, what had she just done? She knew the two soldiers were chasing her now, and that they were probably furious. On a good day she was a very fast runner, faster than all the others at the orphanage, except Julian, who always made it a tie between them, but right now her fear was slowing her down. She stopped, panting, sloped exhaustedly against a big boulder. Her head shot up as she heard footsteps approaching._

" _This way!"_

 _It was them. Before she knew what was happening she hit the ground with a thud and the wind was knocked out of her. She felt a pair of hands holding onto her ankles and with a fierce and determined yank she found herself being dragged into a thick shrubbery. A hand was now tightly clamped over her mouth and her own hands were firmly held behind the small of her back in a tight grasp._

" _Quiet now, or they'll hear." a male voice whispered in her ear._

 _The voice was strangely soothing to her for some unexplainable reason and she felt her struggling limbs relax. The man behind her spoke with a Scottish accent and in a hushed, calm voice. The sound of heavy boots against the ground was heard and the two men rushed past the bush in pursuit of her. She glanced from side to side, trying to catch a glimpse of whoever was holding her. Finally he spoke again._

" _I'm going to take away my hand now. Do not yell, lass, if ye value your life and perhaps also mine."_

 _He took his big hand away and she inhaled deeply as soon as her mouth was free. As if he was waiting to see if she could be trusted not to yell he waited a moment before releasing her wrists and letting her turn around. When she did she saw a strapping red haired man in his early twenties sitting on his hunches close behind her in the green shrubbery, with a humorous twitch on his lips. He put a finger to his lips, signalling that it wasn't safe to speak yet. He then pushed past her and took a discreet look outside their hiding place._

" _All right, the coast is clear, " he said with his Scottish accent._

" _Why are you helping me? And who the hell are you?" Lottie blurted out incredulously at him._

 _He gave her a surprised look and picked up his heavy sword from the ground._

" _You were running from the red coats. So, I gather ye aren't too keen on them getting hold of ye?"_

 _She shook her head._

" _Well then, I think you ought to come with me and I'll make sure ye're safe from them."_

 _What was she going to do? If she told this man she'd rather continue alone then she might run into those two again. If she did they might overpower her and kidnap her. She didn't understand why they wanted to do that, but she did know that she didn't want them to. This man seemed to know how to get away from them, and even more importantly, he seemed to know his way around in this forest. She herself was lost after having run around trying to escape from those two soldiers._

" _There are many more red coats about in these parts of the forest right now. I do not recommend that you stay here alone if ye want to avoid them. We must go. I'll protect ye, trust me, huh?"_

 _He crawled out of the shrubbery and offered her a hand. Lottie stared at his outstretched hand and made up her mind. She could trust this man. She wasn't in the habit of trusting adults but she felt sure this one was trying to help her and she needed to trust someone right now. She took his hand and staying right behind him as they started running. They slowed down after a while, treading carefully on the ground to avoid making too much noise with their steps. Strangely Lottie had begun feeling that her outfit was the one out of place, not his. He wore a dark jacket and a white linen shirt underneath , black boots and a kilt. Well, no matter who he was he had just helped her. And he seemed to want to continue helping her. Maybe he could show her where the road was as soon as they had put enough distance between themselves and those two soldiers._

 _Before she knew it they were approaching a black horse that was standing hidden behind a big boulder. He was peacefully eating grass with no care in the world and for a short second Lottie actually wished she could be a carefree horse too. The red haired stranger untangled the reins and threw them over the horse's head. He then brought the horse over to her._

" _Here. Up on the horse. We need to hurry."_

 _She did as he said, but without his proffered hand. She didn't need any help mounting a horse. He got up behind her with the skill of someone quite used to handling horses, and they trotted off. Lottie held onto the saddle with one hand and the horse's mane with the other. It was pretty bumpy with no stirrups to rest her feet in, instead her legs dangled in the air. Suddenly she felt one of her loafers fall from her left foot._

" _Damn!" she said._

" _Excuse me?" the stranger said as they continued to move._

" _Nothing."_

 _It happened fast. Really fast. Neither one of them had time to react before he had already hit the ground. Somehow Lottie managed to stay on the horse and not fall off as one of the soldiers jumped out in front of them, causing the horse to rear up whinnying, while the other man dragged the stranger to the ground. He grunted as he now lay on the ground and the soldier who had attacked him threw himself over him, trying to overpower him. It didn't work though. The soldier was immediately thrown off and the stranger got to his feet._

 _Lottie jumped down off the horse and the stranger immediately positioned himself in front of her. He cradled his right arm with his left hand and forearm in a strange way but had a determined look on his face as he faced the two soldiers._

" _Hand over the girl and we won't kill you," said the short man with the padded stomach angrily._

" _She's going to be brought to the captain and answer for her crime," the tall man with the slim shoulders filled in, while he at the same time reached for his musket._

 _The stranger saw this move coming and quickly hauled out his pistol. He then pointed it straight at the soldiers._

" _I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, and the tall man withdrew his hand slowly. "Tell me what crime this lass has committed."_

" _She assaulted this soldier only a few minutes ago. She is to be held responsible for her actions…"_

 _The tall man was interrupted as the stranger started to laugh in the most condescending way possible._

" _You mean to say that this lassie attacked a British soldier and then got away from you?"_

 _The two soldiers flushed and looked annoyed. They didn't answer._

" _If that is indeed the case, gentlemen, then perhaps it is in fact the soldier who should be punished, not this wee lass. " he grinned._

" _You insolent barbarian! You are under arrest and so is the girl." the tall soldier reached determinedly for his musket this time, but he didn't get very far before the stranger had launched at him. With his healthy left arm he swung at him and hit him in the jaw with his pistol. The soldier went down to the ground but while there he went for the strangers legs, trying to grab them and bring him down to taste the dirt as well. The short man tried to assist his friend and swung at the stranger who was now stooping down. He hit him in the neck and for a moment it looked like the stranger became groggy enough to go down. That was when Lottie decided to step in. While the stranger still had his back to her she stepped up and delivered a side kick to the short man's face, sending him backwards with blood gushing out of his nose. She also stomped down hard on the tall man's right hand, since he was still so conveniently on hands and knees on the ground._

" _Aaaahh!" the tall man yelled and pulled his hand away as soon as she lifted her foot._

 _It didn't take long for the stranger to get his bearings back and as soon as the short man got up again he was quite effectively neutralized by the stranger's fist. He grabbed the tall soldier, pulling him to his feet and then hit him in the head with the back of his pistol._

" _You're injured!" Lottie exclaimed worriedly, and hurried over to him as he stood examining his right arm, the two fallen British soldiers by his feet on the ground._

 _Gingerly he took off his jacket to examine his arm better and grunted painfully from moving his injured arm. Judging by the almost disfigured look of his shoulder it was clear that it had been dislocated._

" _Must have happened when he pulled me off my horse,"he mumbled._

 _Lottie found herself just staring at him. She wanted so desperately to help him, but she didn't know how. He caught her staring anxiously at him and attempted a feeble smile._

" _Nothing can be done about it now, lass. Dinna worry yerself."_

" _Thank you," she said and looked him straight in the eye. "For helping me."_

 _He panted a little as he tried to fully straighten himself and Lottie hurriedly offered him to lean on her._

" _Ye're welcome. I have to get back to the group of men that I'm with. "_

 _It didn't seem to do much good for him to lean against her so they quickly gave up that idea. Instead Lottie ran over to the black horse, grabbed his reins and brought him over to the stranger so he could mount up._

 _As she watched him get himself in order in the saddle she realized something. She didn't want him to leave her alone here. She wanted to go with this protective and loyal stranger to...well, wherever he was going. Wherever he was going would be better than here, because it would be farther away from the orphanage than this place was. Also, this man would be there. He had helped her and protected her. No other adult had done that for the past two years of her life._

" _I think it would be best if ye came with me."_

 _Lottie squinted up at him on the tall horse. Had she heard right?_

" _Me? But you don't even know where I'm from," she said incredulously. Coult she be in such luck that she wouldn't even have to convince him to take her along? "Or what I'm doing here."_

" _Ye can tell me later. Right now we need to go."_

 _Several hours later Lottie was leaving a cottage where she had spent an hour with a group of highlanders from the clan called MacKenzie. The stranger, whose name she had by now learned was Jamie Mactavish, had had his shoulder pulled back into place by a strange woman that had been brought to the cabin in what seemed to be against her will. Her name was Claire Beachump. Lottie still didn't understand what was going on. She felt like she was thousands of miles away from home, but she knew that was impossible. She was still in Scotland, still in the woods near Inverness. Still reatively close to the orphanage. She noticed that Claire Beachump's brown leather oxford shoes and her thin white dress bore more resemblance to Lottie's own clothes than any of the garments the highlander men wore. There was also the added fact that she looked just as confused as Lottie felt, only a little more shocked than she felt. Then she heard Claire Beachump ask:_

" _Where is it? Where is the city? It should be visible from here."_

" _Inverness? You're looking straight at it," Jamie answered her, a bit confounded._

 _Lottie stared into the dark from her place on a horse in front of the rugged highlander Murtagh. That was when she knew that she was no longer in 1946. She felt panic begin to rise inside her, but she quickly quelled it. She was far away from the orphanage. This was what she had wanted when she had run away. She was at a safe distance and they couldn't get to her now._

 **The End**

 **Author notes: So, this was the final chapter on "Charlotte's Tumbling Time Travel: Acceptance". I have already started working on the next story about Lottie. I hope you would like to read it. It will most likely feature Laoghaire MacKenzie and a disagreement between her and Lottie.**


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